Black-Capped Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee
Parus atricapillus / Mésange à tête noire

Mohican Outdoor Center, Lodge Feeder, Delaware Water Gap, New Jersey, 1/1/03. Black-capped Chickadee in an argument with a Titmouse at the feeder in heavy rain (9kb)	wave560
Beaver Swamp Trail, Mohican Outdoor Center, Delaware Water Gap, 1/1/03. Family of Chickadees feeding in Chestnut Oaks during a heavy rain (315kb). This sound is very high-pitched and could not be compressed without losing some quality.	wave563
Hickory Hollow, Appalachian Trail South of Mohican Outdoor Center, 9/30/02 (82kb). Very high-pitched contact calls in wind.	wave564
Hickory Hollow, Appalachian Trail South of Mohican Outdoor Center, 9/30/02 (16kb) Chickadee contact calls with "dee-dee-dee" in MSN Audio format.	wave565
Kouchibouguac, New Brunswick, Canada (9/3/00), (52kb) family of Chickadees "dee-dee-dee" calls with Nuthatch, in mature pines at dusk	wave710
Hickory Hollow, Appalachian Trail South of Mohican Outdoor Center, 9/30/02 (89kb). Downy Woodpecker, Chickadee gurgles and contact calls, Titmice and Flicker "peogh".	wave566
Indian Head Point, Mohican Outdoor Center, Delaware Water Gap, 6/20/01, Chickadee "Fee-bee" song with Tanager in background (54kb)	MP3-458 wave458
Great Swamp, New Jersey, 3/24/02, Red-wing Blackbird "oakalee" with Chickadee snarl and Chickadee flying away (33kb)	wave514
Crabmeadow State Park, Long Island, New York, 3/30/02 (12kb) Unusual contact calls	wave 524
Southold, NY in dunes near Long Island Sound, 2/25/03 (28kb). These unusual contact calls were recorded days after a large blizzard. A small family of 5 or 6 Chickadees was feeding in mature pines growing in the dunes covered with 6 inches of snow. The calls carried quite well against the loud rumble from the rolling waves in the Sound about 500 feet away. Notice the much lower pitch of the last call.	wave687
	Index

Patuxent, "The Black-capped Chickadee is very similar to the Carolina Chickadee and where their ranges overlap they can be difficult to separate. In fact, they have trouble telling themselves apart and hybrids occur. The most obvious difference between them is their songs. Black-capped sings a two note song while Carolina sings a four note song. Hybrids sing a three note song. Outside of the breeding season, when chickadees don't sing much, the Black-capped is slightly larger, has more white edging in the wing and has slower, lower-pitched calls." http://www.mbr.nbs.gov/id/framlst/i7350id.html.

Stokes: "The song of the Black-capped is 2 whistled notes, the 1st slightly higher than the 2nd. The song of the Carolina is 4 notes, the 1st and 3rd much higher than the others."

Robbins: Black-Capped, "Second note is one full tone lower, 16-23/min." Carolina: "Calls are faster than corresponding calls of Black-Capped, whistled song is an octave higher, of 4 or 5 notes, 8-12/min."

Peterson: "A clearly enunciated "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" or "dee-dee-dee". In spring a clear whistle "fee-bee" or "fee-bee-ee" the first note higher. The Phoebe Flycatcher does not whistle, but says its name simply "phoebe". Carolina: "The call of this species is higher-pitched and more rapid than that of the Black Cap. The two-noted whistle is replaced by a four-syllable song, "fee-bee, fee-bay".

Bittner: "Dee-dee-dee" call: the "dee-dee-dees" described by Peterson sound to me like, "da-da-da-da-da" and are not necessarily 3 in number. The quick repetition of "da" could be as many as 5-6 times on the same pitch and noticeably lower than the "chick" or "chick-a" sound typically at the beginning. Also, the "chick" introducing the multiple "da" sounds is often barely audible but shows up clearly on spectrograms. This sound is common in the woodlands throughout the winter.

The Titmouse makes a similar "da-da-da" call which is much burrier and lower in pitch than the Chickadee's.

"Fee-bee" call: The Phoebe Flycatcher has a similar "fee-bee" song but it is more muffled or hoarse, a longer pause between repetition of the song, and the song is sung faster. The two part descending whistle of the Black-Capped as clearer, more melodious, slow and deliberate, not often heard in the winter. The second note is approximately 1/5 lower on the musical scale.

"Chit" or "tseet" call: (First note in wave 511) Hundreds of birds make a similar "chit" call. Even experienced birders have trouble distinguishing them. Some have described this as a call made during an agonistic encounter. Smith, 77 (1991) However, I have noticed that this call appears often to be nothing more than a very short contact call. I often hear it in mixed-flocks in fall and winter where birds are within a few feet of one another. Compare this "chit" call with that of the "white-throated sparrow."

Susan M. Smith, The Black-Capped Chickadee: Behavioral Ecology and Natural History, Cornell University Press, 1991. Fascinating coverage of all species of chickadees. Natural history, study techniques, food and feeding, communication, breeding, non-breeding season, winter and population. 362 pages with extensive bibliography. Ms. Smith's description of the function of each sound is the closest to my own observations than any other writer's. See her chapter on "Communication" pages 55-89. She does not make overly broad generalizations. For example, she goes into great detail about the function and context of the "fee-bee" song and does not over-generalize by saying that it is strictly a sound to define territory.

Christina Bergner, "Songs and calls of Black-capped Chickadees," http://www.oocities.org/RainForest/Vines/3905/ckdsong.html. Good reference on the net especially on behavior, no recordings and too short to be as thorough as Ms. Smith above.

"Birds of North America, No. 254, Boreal Chickadee", excellent discussion of vocalizations of Black-capped cousin, the Boreal Chickadee. http://www.birdsofna.org/excerpts/bchickadee.html . No recordings given.